


The Selkie

by ObtuseOctopus



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fae, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Mythology, Alternate Universe - Pirate, Alternate Universe - Shapeshifters, Celtic Mythology & Folklore, Dark Magic, F/F, Fae & Fairies, Fae Magic, Gen, Mild Blood, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Pirates, Selkies, Shapeshifting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:28:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25639519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ObtuseOctopus/pseuds/ObtuseOctopus
Summary: Hired by the ship captain, Peridot was tasked to remove a nuisance mermaid in the bay in exchange for some more buck on her usual wage. However, this nuisance turns out to not be a mermaid as many thought.
Relationships: Lapis Lazuli/Peridot (Steven Universe)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 26





	The Selkie

**Author's Note:**

> // Inspired by “Good Hunting” from Love, Death + Robots, with a darker take on some mythology

“I’m still at least a hundred short, if I can’t make enough before the next ship arrives, I’m toast!” Peridot pleaded, stepping back from the overtowering captain. 

“You agreed you work on my deck for _half_ than minimum wage,” Jasper reminded, pointing a finger at Peridot.

“Yeah, I did! That was six months ago! But now I need your help-“

Some of Jasper’s standby crew laughed. Peridot’s shoulders dropped. 

“Pathetic. You work now with what you’re being paid, or none at all,” Jasper threatened. “Or if you’d prefer to walk the plank…”

“N-no! Nononono! I’m fine, I’m good-!” Peridot nervously smiled. “I’ll… I’ll get to work…”

“Psst. What about _ahem_?” One of Jasper’s crew members mentioned.

“Speak up or don’t speak at all,” Jasper whipped around.

“The ship menace? That one mermaid who was destroying our property?” The crew member elaborated.

Jasper warmed up at the idea. “I see what you’re saying… alright.” She placed her hands on her hips after tipping her captain’s hat. “I’ll pay you extra. IF! You catch whatever has been sabotaging our ships.”

“Can you… kinda like uh… go more into detail?” Peridot requested.

“It comes at night and destroys our things,” Jasper gritted her teeth. “It throws our bottles into the water, tears our maps, and steals our treasure. One of our ships was lost to that thing.”

“And it’s a mermaid?”

“As so it was reported,” Jasper confirmed. “I’ll give you until the next ship arrives to catch it, or the deal is off, you bastard.”

“You could get out of here just in time,” another crew member mocked.

“I’ll take it!” Peridot agreed. Even if it’d kill her, she needed the money to get out of debt so that she could finally leave this place. Besides, catching a mermaid? Few mermaids have been seen before and pah! Mermaids were easy to catch, since they tend to come to shallow waters during full and new moons. Some pirates even had a mermaid skeleton or tail, or a full live one kept in a tank to display power and wealth. This would be easy!

Peridot had laid out a few nets and traps scattered across the bay, hoping at least one would catch what she was searching for. She remained posted for at least a week, two days remaining before the next ship arrived in the bay.

It was night when one of the nets finally stirred. Peridot shot awake from where she had been sleeping on the small boat of hers, rushing over to the squirming net. She pulled it out of the water with some difficulty, revealing masses of seaweed and broken pieces of sea grass inside. There was something big wiggling in the net. Peridot jumped, hauling it in as the net swayed back and forth, sending drops of seawater everywhere. 

Pulling out a knife, Peridot cut the net from the rope that had hung it up, allowing it to smack down onto the ship’s floor. The thing wiggled some more, then grew still. Absolutely still.

Peridot warily approached her catch. She poked it.

_Nothing?_ She thought. _Was it just a fish?_

She was ready to call it a failure, until something moved again in the net. The plump face of a spotted seal poked through the clumps of seaweed and other ocean debris. It squeaked, spooking Peridot and sending her stumbling back into the wooden barrels on the deck.

There was a _seal_ in the net. Which, it made no sense, considering seals were extinct in Prime Bay.

Peridot gasped. She drew her knife again, jumping to her feet. “Wh-why are you-?! Get out, get out, shoo!” She grabbed the net, frustrated. “Doh- I’m going to get fired for sure! Out! Out! Come on, you big smelly clod-!”

“I’d get out myself, but I’m obviously stuck in here,” an unfamiliar voice spoke back to her.

Peridot paused. She looked around. Nobody else was on deck with her.

“Are you just gonna stand there?” 

“Who are you?! Where are you?! Is this a prank?!” Peridot panicked, holding her knife in front of her. Was Jasper messing with her?!

“Down here.”

Peridot glanced down at the seal. Its face seemed to _melt_ away, definitely convincing Peridot that maybe she drank something earlier that was causing hallucinations. But as she continued watching, green eyes full of horror, the seal _transformed_. Its skin shrunk, then grew, and then from the spotted fur emerged a woman.

Peridot’s mouth couldn’t close.

“Any day now would be great,” the woman who had come from the seal huffed. 

“You…” Peridot’s legs trembled.

“Yeah, me. Hey.” The woman sat up, her short, black hair like ringlets of curly ocean waves rolling against her shoulders. Her skin was olive, and her eyes were the darkest Peridot had ever seen. The seal itself seemed to become a coat or skin of sorts, as it rested against the girl’s body just like clothing. And Peridot noticed that this woman was also _naked_. Her face turned red with embarrassment, turning around.

“Oh my gosh- oh my H-2-Oh gosh- I’m so sorry I DIDN’T SEE ANYTHING,” Peridot covered her eyes.

“Can you just let me out of here?” The girl asked.

“Who are you and why are you in my net?!” Peridot demanded, still covering her eyes.

“You caught me,” the woman said, unimpressed. “Look. Just release me, and it’s all good.”

“What are you?! What happened to that-?!”

“My skin? Uh… that’s me,” the woman answered. “I’m not sure how to explain this to you, but… I’m what you see now.”

“That’s ridiculous!” Peridot laughed. 

“It’s not witchcraft,” the woman muttered. “It’s Fae magic. Don't you know? Don’t mess with Fae.”

“Fae? Oh no, don’t tell me you mean-“

“Faeries. Yeah.”

Peridot began to laugh even louder.

“This isn’t funny,” the woman hissed. “Let me go before-“

“Before what? The seal bites me?” Peridot giggled. She opened her eyes, averting her gaze here and there so that she wouldn’t be directly staring at the trapped woman.

“Roane.”

“Come again?”

“Roane. I’m not a seal.”

Peridot stopped laughing in the midst of her confusion. “Huh?”

“Maybe you’re more acquainted with Selkie?”

“You… can’t be serious,” Peridot denied. “That’s- that’s ridiculous.”

“Oh so mermaids exist, but not Roane?” The woman challenged, her teeth sharpening. “Hypocrite…”

“Mermaids are real!! There’s skulls of them displayed on some pirate-!”

“Then other sea creatures exist too, eejit.”

“E- what?”

The woman attempted to stand, held down by the net. “Cut me loose. I’ll swim away, and none of this happened.”

Peridot mentally debated on it. But… this was just so- INSANE-! She finally but reluctantly complied, kneeling down to start cutting the net. The mysterious woman watched closely. “Um… so do you… have a name or are you just… seal-lady…?”

“Lapis,” the woman interrupted. “I’m Lapis. And it’s _Roane._ ”

“There’s no difference! They both mean seal!” Peridot griped.

“There is a difference.” Lapis rose to her feet as soon as she had been cut free from the net, the sealskin she bore covering her body much to Peridot’s relief. 

Peridot never took her eyes off her. “Well- sorry for catching you I guess… See, I’m after a mermaid that was sabotaging ships and ah, she was basically making captain Jasper upset-“

“Jasper? You mean the captain of that silly crew?”

“I wouldn’t call them silly, they’re all actually terrifying…”

“Jasper and I… I say it’s like a game of cat and mouse, but I never get caught,” Lapis crossed her arms. “If she’s calling me a mermaid, that’s pretty sad.”

“You… you’re the one-?”

Lapis nodded. “I like seeing how ticked off she can get. I find it funny.” She came closer to Peridot, stroking her chin. “I find humans funny.”

“Y… you do?” Peridot felt goosebumps wash over her body, Lapis’ hand as soft as velvet fabric. 

“Yeah. I do.” Lapis gave a tiny chortle. “They’re so… different, than Fae. They’re organic, but they’re also sometimes charming.”

“Charming…?” Peridot shivered as Lapis placed her other hand on her shoulder. “I’m far from charming, but I’m- I’m charming when I want to be…”

“I believe you.” Lapis played with Peridot’s hair. “You look like the charming type even though you had me in your net. Maybe I’m your catch of the day.” She leaned in, pressing her nose against Peridot’s ear. She nibbled lightly on the bottom lobe, pressing a kiss there.

Peridot couldn’t move. She felt flustered, her heart beating fast.

“I guess I can forgive you for the net thing,” Lapis shrugged, her hands slowly sliding down Peridot’s sides. They stopped at her hips, grabbing at her. “... I forgive you.”

“I… am glad to hear that,” Peridot whispered, entranced.

Lapis hummed in response, kissing her neck. “You’re very brave, being out here at night. All alone and all…” she pressed her body closer, “by yourself.” It was almost like she was singing a song now, humming louder and into Peridot’s ear. “How about we-?”

“PERIDOT! DAMMIT, GET HER!” 

_Jasper?_ Peridot snapped back into reality.

Lapis sharply jerked back, her body tense. Whiskers popped out of her upper lip, and her hands lengthened into webbed claws. She let out a growl, her eyes enveloped in pitch black. She lunged at Peridot, her sharp teeth glimmering in the moonlight.

Peridot, startled, gasped. She lashed out with her knife, managing to slice Lapis across the chest.

Lapis backed off, silver blood staining the deck. She didn’t care for the wound on her chest. Instead, she made a run for the water.

Jasper came charging into the deck, sword in hand. She saw Lapis and sprinted after her, but it was too late. The seal-woman had jumped into the water and disappeared.

“Wh-what was-?! Holy crap…” Peridot breathed heavily.

“What the hell is a Selkie doing this far into the bay?!” Jasper grimaced. She scanned the water for a bit, then considered it a lost cause. “What the fuck were you doing?!”

“Trying to catch the mermaid!” Peridot shouted. “But it turns out it wasn’t a mermaid and it was actually this seal that turned into a woman and she was naked and this sealskin was on her and she-!”

“Can it, scrap.” Jasper shook her head in disappointment. “You said it’s actually a Selkie doing all this to my property?”

“Yes! I’m not lying! I swear! I do!” Peridot crossed her heart.

Jasper bit her lip. “Damn sea witches…” she cursed under her breath, putting her sword away. 

Peridot eyed her knife, noting the unusual blood on it. 

“At least you’re smart enough to carry an iron knife,” Jasper commented, noticing Peridot. “That hurts the Fae like a bitch.” She grinned. “Don’t clean that bloodied knife.”

“Why?”

“Because that blood is what we need to find this Selkie and end this once and for all.” Jasper swiped the knife away. “I’ll go gather my crew. We find this Selkie, and we stop this once and for all.”

“What about…?”

“Your pay?” Jasper bellowed a hearty laugh. “I’ll give it to you. Once we find that bitch, it’s all yours.”

“Then take me with you! I can help-“ Peridot begged.

“Oh you’re coming with me all right.” Jasper grabbed Peridot by her hair. “You’re going to be our _bait_.”


End file.
